TORRINGTON >> Gov. Dannel P. Malloy early Saturday ordered all roads in Connecticut closed until further notice as parts of the state were buried under 2 feet of snow.

The traffic ban extends to all vehicles except for those emergency response and recovery vehicles with the capacity to maneuver in heavy snow, he said in a statement.

"It's critical right now that residents stay off the roads, so that our plows can continue their efforts to clear our streets and highways," Malloy said in the statement. "This is a record setting storm. It's going to take time to dig out of the snow. Stalled or abandoned vehicles will only slow that process. Unless you face an emergency, please stay put."

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The heaviest bands of snow and the strongest winds of the storm moved toward Litchfield County Friday night as the blizzard blasted into the region.

Wind gusts as high as 45 mph were reported in the area.

The behemoth storm packing hurricane-force wind gusts and blizzard conditions swept through the Northeast on Saturday, dumping more than 2 feet of snow on New England and knocking out power to 650,000 homes and businesses.

More than 28 inches of snow had fallen on central Connecticut by early Saturday, and areas of southeastern Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire notched 2 feet or more of snow -- with more falling. Airlines scratched more than 5,300 flights through Saturday, and New York City's three major airports and Boston's Logan Airport closed.

The wind-whipped snowstorm mercifully arrived at the start of a weekend, which meant fewer cars on the road and extra time for sanitation crews to clear the mess before commuters in the New York-to-Boston region of roughly 25 million people have to go back to work. But it also could mean a weekend cooped up indoors.

With days of warning and preparation behind them, most area residents heeded warnings to stay in and settled in to their homes and waited out the blizzard that meteorologists say could bring up to 2 feet of snow to the region by the time it moves out Saturday afternoon.

Meteorologists said snow is expected to continue until midday Saturday around the state, with a total of between 15 to 25 inches likely in Litchfield County. Winds and poor visibility, necessary for a storm to be considred a blizzard, will also last through the night, making traveling nearly impossible.

In Litchfield County, 12 inches were reported in Washington, according to the National Weather Service. There were 11 inches at 11 p.m. in Winsted and nearly a foot in Torrington.

Around the state, some towns already had 20 inches or more of snow by 11 p.m., with up to 10 more inches coming.

Torrington police and firefighters said all was quiet in the city. They night shift captain said they hadn't responded to any accidents or other storm related calls as of 9:25 p.m.

"I'm very pleased that people have heeded our warnings to stay off the roads," said Gov. Dannel P. Malloy during a 6 p.m. briefing at the State Armory in Hartford. "Things are going relatively well. Please stay home."

Malloy said there are about 1,000 state plows on the roads. He issued a state of emergency at noon and put a travel ban in place at 4 p.m., barring vehicles - except for public safety and storm recovery vehicles - from the state's highways until after the storm passes.

"By traveling in these conditions, you are not only putting yourself in danger, but you are potentially risking the lives of first responders, utility workers and other residents," Malloy said. "Please be safe."

The ban applies to limited-access highways, which are any that have on- and off-ramps.

"We can't put cars at every entrance and every exit," Malloy said. "We are asking our residents to limit all of their travel, at this point there is no reason to be out on the roads."

At 11 p.m., the state's utility companies were reporting about 32,000 outages across the state. There were 31,440 CL&P customers in the dark (about 2 percent of the company's customers) and 1,738 homes and businesses served by United Illuminating without power.

Most of those outages were in southeastern and southwestern Connecticut. In Litchfield County, outages were scattered, with no town with more than two dozen or so outages.

The storm is the combination of two weather systems, one coming down from the north and another moving up the coast from the south in a Nor'easter. Meteorologists said the storm caused rare blizzard conditions in the state and could drop historic amounts of snow in some areas of the state, and in Massachusetts. The last blizzard in Connecticut was in December 2010.

Locally, some towns and cities have opened emergency operations centers, and firefighters and other personnel are at the ready. Public works crews are on the roads. Like Malloy, local officials ask that residents stay inside tonight and until roads are cleared.

"We're asking residents to shelter in place," said Torrington's emergency management director Rick DallaValle, who spent Friday communicating with Mayor Ryan Bingham and other city leaders assessing the storm. "We'll see what happens when the roads are clear. If there are power outages, we'll open up shelters."

Schools cancelled classes or sent students home early Friday, court houses were closed and "non-essential" state employees got the day off and many businesses closed up early.

By 6 p.m., a few inches of snow had fallen across the county, and up to five inches were on the ground by the shoreline, where snowfall first started in the morning. The National Weather Service's blizzard warning expires Saturday afternoon, and forecasters there are predicting from 15 to 25 inches of snow will fall. The NWS said the storm will also bring high winds and low visibility, making driving nearly impossible at the height of the storm.

During a noon briefing from the State Armory in Hartford, Malloy cautioned residents to start heading home.

"If you're leaving your house to get on the highway to go buy milk at this point, you're doing the wrong thing."

Police and firefighters said they didn't respond to many calls Friday, as most people seemed to heed the warnings from officials to stay off the roads.

"Everybody had warning and they're all staying home," said Harwinton Fire Capt. Bill Buys. "We're looking out at Route 4 right now and it's bare. Not bare, but, abandoned. Nobody's even out there."

Torrington Fire Department Capt. Joseph McElroy said firefighters responded to three storm-related calls Friday morning and afternoon, but nothing major. One crash, on Pinewoods Road around 2 p.m. was a minor fender bender. Another, around 11 a.m., on Route 8 was handled by state police after a car slid off the road.

State police at Troop B and Troop L said they responded to minor crashes, but reported no serious injuries at any. Across the state, Lt. J. Paul Vance said troopers had responded to more than 100 accidents by the evening.

The storm was expected to intensify late Friday and early Saturday.

By 1 p.m. Saturday, the storm should be over, said Quincy Vagell, a WTNH meteorologist. However, "We're concerned about windchills in the single digits and teens."

Vagell said Friday afternoon that most of the state will receive 14 to 20 inches. The northeast corner should get the worst, with 30 inches or more, he said.

As for the power going out, "We think mainly along the immediate Shoreline and eastern Connecticut," Vagell said. "It's going to be very heavy, wet snow and winds gusting to about 50 mph in that area." In other parts of the state, the snow will be lighter, holding less moisture.

Still, the state's utility companies prepared for the worst. Connecticut Light & Power had out-of-state crews brought in and positioned manpower at key areas for the storm's aftermath. CL&P anticipated about 30 percent of its customers would lose power.

Residents digging out Saturday in chilly weather have something to look forward to.

According to Vagell, Sunday promises "Plenty of sunshine. Highs in the low to mid-30s."